Dame Ann Gloag, the transport tycoon co-founder of Stagecoach, has been charged with human trafficking offences.
Police Scotland has charged four people this week in connection with an investigation into alleged human trafficking and immigration offences.
The four individuals – understood to include Dame Ann’s husband David McCleary and two other family members – were charged on Thursday, police said.
Dame Ann, 80, “strongly disputes the malicious allegations” against her, her Perth-based Gloag Foundation, and members of her family, a spokesperson said.
The charges were made after Dame Ann and her husband attended a voluntary interview at Falkirk police station and no arrests were made, The Independent understands.
Dame Ann was Scotland’s richest woman when she retired in 2019, having founded what is now the UK’s largest bus and coach operator with her brother Brian Souter during Margaret Thatcher’s deregulatory reforms in the 1980s.
She was made a Dame Commander in the 2019 New Year Honours list in recognition of her services to business and philanthropy.
A spokesperson said: “Whilst we cannot comment on the details of an ongoing investigation, Dame Ann Gloag strongly disputes the malicious allegations that have been made against her, her foundation and members of her family.”
She “will vigorously defend herself and the work of her foundation to protect her legacy and continue her work helping thousands of people in the UK and abroad every year”, they added.
A source close to Dame Ann told The Independent that the “bizarre” situation was “a Kafkaesque nightmare”, adding: “Everybody is in a state of shock.”
The Gloag Foundation is a trust set up in 2004 “to support projects that prevent or relieve poverty and encourage the advancement of education, health and religion in the UK and overseas”, according to its website.
Among the charities it funds is Freedom from Fistula, founded by Dame Ann, which supports women and children in Sierra Leone, Malawi, Madagascar and previously Kenya.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “On 19 January, 2023, four individuals were charged in connection with an investigation into alleged human trafficking and immigration offences. A report will be sent to the procurator fiscal.”
Dame Ann and her brother co-founded Stagecoach in 1980, starting out with a school bus and two secondhand coaches, ferrying people from Dundee to London.
It now employs close to 25,000 people and runs nearly a quarter of the UK bus market, according to its website.
Dame Ann was reported on the Sunday Times Rich List to be worth £730m in 2020, and has owned Beaufort Castle, near in Inverness, since 2004.
